WHO WE ARE

Divine Mercy University (DMU) is a Catholic graduate school of psychology and counseling, founded in 1999 as the Institute for the Psychological Sciences. The University is dedicated to the scientific study of psychology with a Catholic understanding of the person, marriage and the family. The University offers Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctoral (Psy.D.) degrees in Clinical Psychology, a Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Psychology and a Master of Science (M.S.) in Counseling.

The Divine Mercy University is governed by its Board of Directors, which has complete and final governing authority over the University. The Board consists of the Bishop Emeritus of Arlington, Virginia, seven lay Catholic leaders and three members of the Legionaries of Christ. The Legion sponsors the University by providing a President and a Chaplain and helping to maintain the Catholic identity of the institution.

Vision

The Divine Mercy University will be an international center for scholarship and professional training dedicated to the development of a psychology grounded in an integral Catholic-Christian view of the human person. Maintaining the highest academic standards, it will educate new generations of psychologists as well as professionals in psychology-related fields and open new areas of research for psychological theories that explore the relationship of psychology and the Catholic-Christian understanding of the human person.

MISSION

Divine Mercy University (DMU) is an institution of higher education offering Master’s and Doctoral degrees. It is affiliated with the Legionaries of Christ. The University is dedicated to the renewal of the Catholic-Christian intellectual tradition and the integration of the theoretical and empirical bases of psychology and a Catholic-Christian view of the human person.

The University seeks to provide students an effective academic and educational environment that supports the integration of the psychological sciences and a Catholic-Christian understanding of the person through teaching and learning both knowledge and critical skills. It assists students intellectually and professionally as they prepare themselves to respond to their vocation as mental health professionals or as men and women in helping professions. The University’s mission also involves dialogue about its integrative approach with practitioners and scholars, nationally and internationally.

Statement of Identity

Divine Mercy University (DMU) is a Catholic institution formed to train leaders in the field of psychology. According to its mission statement, “the University is dedicated to the renewal of the Catholic-Christian intellectual tradition and the integration of the theoretical and empirical bases of psychology and a Catholic view of the human person.”

The life of the University is rooted in and fully informed by the teaching of the Catholic Church. This vision involves every aspect of life at the University, including the training model, education in the classroom and the clinic, intellectual and scholarly pursuits, and our common life as an academic community. The identity of the University finds its primary source in the word of God, which is expressed in the whole Tradition of the Catholic Church (Scripture and Magisterium) (Dei Verbum [The Word of God, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation of the Second Vatican Council], DV, sec. 7-10).

The heart of the identity of the University is belief in the Trinitarian God who has revealed himself through Jesus Christ. Believing all things are created by God and bear resemblance to him, we view reality and each person as a gift. We recognize the primacy of God’s gift, which humanity is invited to receive and to give in turn. Therefore, we seek to promote and participate in an authentic “culture of life” (Evangelium Vitae [The Gospel of Life], Encyclical of Pope John Paul II, 1995, sec. 28) at the University and in the broader culture.

We affirm that the human being has been created “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27), and so every person has transcendent dignity. Created by God, who is truth himself (John 14:6), the human person is called “to live the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). In Jesus Christ, the human person fully discovers himself as made in love and for love. Each person, in turn, can only find himself “through a sincere gift of self” (Gaudium et Spes [Joy and Hope, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World of the Second Vatican Council], 1965, sec. 24).

All are called to live a relationship of love with God. God calls each person through a unique vocation to holiness; the gift of self is the archetypal form of the person’s response to this call. Some people are called to special states in life (marriage, ordained, or consecrated celibacy). Everyone is called to glorify God and serve others through their work. We view the pursuit of graduate studies at the University and the work of professional psychology in vocational terms, as a response to God’s call.

The human person is further recognized as a free and responsible being (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed., sec. 1738). God gave persons the possibility to accept or reject His love. In turn, we at the University honor the freedom of all people: students, faculty, staff, clients, and others. We recognize that the human person is fallen and is wounded by sin, but is offered redemption in Jesus Christ through the Church and the grace of the Holy Spirit. In the light of faith, we live and affirm a vision of hope.

Those who come to work or study at the University either personally hold the Catholic Church’s vision of God and the human person, or remain respectful of this vision. A concern for physical, psychological, social, and spiritual development and well- being motivates the University to clearly identify the qualities of character and conduct that the University community strives to attain. The Catholic identity of the University has particular implications for the model of training at the University and the form of our common life.

Divine Mercy University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award masters and doctorate degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of Divine Mercy University.